Method of solidifying and excavating the soil and constructing tunnels.



' No. 720,384; PATENTED FEB. 10, 1903.

i G. SOOYSMITH. METHOD OF SOLIDIFYING AND EXGAVATING THE SOIL AND CONSTRUGTING TUNNELS APPLICATION FILED APR. 2, 1902.

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"No. 720,384. PATENTED FEB. 10,1903.

- 0. SOOYSMITH}. METHOD OF SOIII'UIFYING AND EXGAVATING THE SOIL AND UONSTRUGTING TUNNELS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 2, 1902.

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.PATENTED FEB. 10, 1903.

G. SOOYSMITH. METHOD OF SOLIDIFYING AND EXGAVATING THE'SOIL AND CONSTRUCTING TUNNELS APPLIOATION FILLED-4P3, 2, 1902.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES SOOYSMITH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF SOLIDIFYING AND EXCAVATING THE SOIL AND CONSTRUCTING TUNNELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 720,384, dated February 10, 1903.

Application filed April 2, 1902. Serial No. 101,045. (No model.)

ToaZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES SooYsMrrH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Method of Solidifying and Excavating the Soil and Constructing Tunnels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the process of freezing the ground, and particularly in preparation for the excavation and constructing of tunnels, and especially to those instances where the construction must be carried on in soft or water-bearing material.

It also relates to themethod of excavating and constructing underground cavities and structures, particularly tunnels.

The objects of my invention areto provide an easy, quick, safe, and economical method of solidifying the ground and its excavation and a convenient, safe, and cheap structure and also to render easy, safe, and economical the enlargement or reconstruction of existing tunnels.

My object is also to permit the safe and gradual enlargement of the pilot-tunnel without recourse to auxiliary pipes or tubes communicating therewith.

These objects I attain by the use of the process and devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described and claimed hereinafter.

In the drawings like characters of reference refer to like parts throughout the respective views. V

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View of a pilot-tunnel with annular recesses at intervals or cut spirally around the same. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same, showing the recesses cut deeper as the freezing takes efiect in the shallow recesses. V Fig. 3 is similar in every way save that the depth of the recesses is still greater and a portion of the pilot-tunnel is shown, showing the successive steps of this process. Fig. 4 shows the last stage of the process of recessing, where sections of the lining of the completed tunnel have been placed in position in some of the recesses which have been excavated out to the final diameter, but leaving rings of frozen material between to support the surrounding soft soil and stiffen the frozen walls of the excavation. Fig. 5 shows these annular rings successively removed and the final lining put 'in place, filling in the spaces left by such removal and completing the structure. It also shows certain temporary rings or braces of wood or other material adapted to assist in supporting the Walls of the pilottunnel. Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the various steps already mentioned and particularly showing a modification of my method in which I alternately cut recesses, leaving a frozen ring, and after freezing deeper in these recesses recess the frozen ring itself beyond the former recess, thus leaving the perimeter of the previous recess as the face or perimeter of the new ring.

In the figures, l is the pilot-tunnel; 2, the recess; 3, the ring of frozen material left by the formation of the recesses; 4, the temporary artificial ring; 5, the partial or spaced sections of the final lining of the completed main tunnel; 6, the final lining of the completed main tunnel.

In Fig. 2 the dotted line (1 represents the original extent of the first recess; 1), the line of excavation after the freezing efiect is extended. In Fig. 3, c is the final line of excavation of the recess. In Fig. 5, d is the face of a ring of frozen material, 6 the face of said ring when further removed, and f the final line of the'tunnel, which corresponds with c, Fig. 3.

In Fig. 6, 3 in dotted lines is the former ring excavated to and beyond the rest of the tunnel-line, so as to form a new recess.

In order to increase the speed of and facilitate the excavation of the frozen material and also to enable the construction of the main tunnel or lining to progress with and assist in supporting the advance work,I have found the following method to be advantageous: Where the work is entirely new, I first construct by well-known means a pilot-tunnel of sufficient diameter for a man to work therein, preferably about six feet in diameter. (In enlarging an old tunnel I employ the old tunnel as a pilot-tunnel.) This need not necessarily be lined, as I introduce as fast it is constructed a medium of cold sufficient to solidify -to a sufficient extent the surrounding material and to the proper depth. Af-

ter this freezing is accomplished I excavate a series of annular or spiral recesses 2 or cells or cavities radially disposed or otherwise spaced suitably and to such a depth a as may nearly penetrate the frozen shell. The cold thus has an opportunity to extend farther into the soft material and freeze about this recess or cavity to a corresponding greater depth, thus forming a corrugation of frozen material which by its shape and nature adds to the strength of the surrounding shell and also presents an enlarged area for the freezing efiect. I may now continue to excavate these recesses deeperfirst, for example, to the line b and after sufficient exposure to the cold to the line 0 or to the final tunnelline. The rings of frozen material 3 stiffen and support the shell and may be reinforced or assisted by the artificial rings or struts 4, of wood or other material. These rings 3 may now or successively during the excavation of the recesses 2 be themselves excavated. Indeed, I prefer to perform these operations successively, starting from the plain pilot-tunnel 1 and first recessing to progressive depths a, b, and c in adjoining recesses and removing the intervening rings correspondingly, as d, e, and f, as is well illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. As these recesses are completed to the tunnel-line, as at c, I may and prefer to place sections 5 of the final lining of the completed tunnel in them, and they then support the shell, as do the rings 3, which may now be entirely removed to the tunnel-linefand the spaces between the sections 5 filled in their turn with lining and so completing the tunnel-lining, as at 6, Figs. 5 and 6.

The general method of excavating recesses and leaving rings may be of course carried out at the same time as the modification, where I also excavate the ring itself back, so as to form in turn a recess, or either method may be used alone. Instead of constructing these recesses in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the tunnel, thus forming an annular recess, I may cut them spirally around the axis of the pilot-tunnel, thus making a continuous recess similar to the thread of a female screw, the effect, functions, and results being the same as when a plurality of annular recesses in planes at right angles to the axis of the pilot-tunnel are formed, and in this latter case, if desired, I can insert the partial lining of the completed tunnel, as heretofore explained for an annular recess.

I do not confine myself to any special way of applying the freezing agent or any peculiar shape of recess, brace, tunnel, or part of the same or to the exact arrangement or order as shown in the drawings or description, nor do I confine myself to any particular direction, as horizontal, as my method is applicable to operations in vertical shafts or other locations; but

What I do claim, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. The method of solidifying the soil which consists in constructing a pilot-tunnel, freezing the surrounding material,constructingannular recesses in the walls of the pilot-tunnel, freezing the soil beyond the recesses, substantially as described.

2. The method of solidifying the soil which consists in constructing a pilot-tunnel, freezingthesurroundingmaterial,constructingannular recesses in the walls of the pilot-tunnel, successively freezing the soil beyond the recesses and enlarging the diameter of the recesses, substantially as described.

The method of solidifying the soil which consists in constructing a pilot-tunnel, freezing the surrounding material, constructing a spiral recess in the walls of the pilot-tunnel, freezing the soil beyond the recess, substantially as described.

4. The method of solidifying the soil which consists in constructing a pilot-tunnel, freezing the surrounding material, constructing a spiral recess in the walls of the pilot-tunnel, successively freezing the soil beyond the limits of the recess and enlarging the diameter of the recess, substantially as described.

5. The method of excavating which consists in constructing a pilot-tunnel, constructing annular recesses in the walls of the same, freezing the surrounding material and excavating the same, substantially as described.

6. The method of constructing a tunnel which consists in constructing a pilot-tunnel,

constructing annular recesses in the walls of the same, freezing the surrounding material and excavating the same and constructing sections of the tunnel in said recesses, substantially as described.

7. The method of constructing a tunnel, which consists in constructing a pilot-tunnel, constructing annular recesses in the walls of the same, freezing the surrounding material, inserting sections of the tunnel-lining in said recesses, excavating the remaining material between said sections and completing the lining of the tunnel between said sections, substantially as described.

8. The method of excavating which consists in constructing a pilot-tunnel, freezing the surrounding material, constructing recesses in the walls of the pilot-tunnel which completely pass around the same, freezing the soil beyond said recess, increasing the depth of said recess, excavating the material remaining between said recesses so as to be themselves recesses extending farther into the surrounding material than the limit of the previous recesses, substantially as described.

9. The method of enlarging a tunnel which consists in freezing the soil surrounding the original tunnel, cutting annular recesses in the walls of the same, successively freezing the soil beyond the recesses, excavating the material between the recesses and constructing the final walls of the enlarged tunnel, substantially as described.

10. The method of enlarginga tunnel which consists in constructing annular recesses in IIO the original tunnel, constructing recesses in the walls of the same which completely pass around the same, freezing the soil beyond said recesses, increasing the depth of said recesses, excavating the material remaining between said recesses and constructing the final lining of the completed tunnel, substantially as described.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 31st day of March, A. D. 1902.

CHARLES SOOYSMITH.

Witnesses:

E. L. ABBOTT, JOHN A. INsLEE. 

